This invention relates generally to electronic controls for a heating and air conditioning system and, more particularly, to a control for a network system used in multi-space buildings, having individual space heating and cooling units.
With the increasing cost of electricity, the cost of operation of heating and cooling units has become very expensive. This problem is particularly acute for hotels and the like where there is no central management system but only direct control by occupants for controlling the electro-mechanical space conditioning units, e.g. package terminal air conditioning (PTAC) units. As often happens, either occupants of hotel rooms energize the PTAC unit when first entering the room for comfort at night, but do not change the operation of the unit when they leave the room during the day, or the hotel maintains all rooms, even unrented rooms, continuously conditioned. Such operations increase energy costs by keeping rooms conditioned even though unoccupied.
Further, hotels generally perform maintenance on PTAC's on a periodic timed basis, i.e. maintenance personnel enter each room and clean all filters on a regular basis whether needed or not. Maintenance personnel must also seasonally enter each room to reconfigure the fan mode of each room unit, i.e. fan cycle during winter months and continuous fan during summer months.
Thus, there is a clear need for a Network Management Control System that will provide hotels and the like with energy and labor savings by only conditioning rented/occupied rooms and by allowing hotel maintenance personnel to monitor PTAC units for performing maintenance only when required and by remotely configuring all space units from one central location.